Custom ZO Mega Evolutions
Along with a new plot line, gym leaders, region, and items, another very intriguing feature is included in the Pokémon Zeta/Omicron series, namely a new set of Mega Evolutions, a very popular feature from versions X/Y. Let's have a look at some of them! All Mega Evolutions from Pokémon X and Y are in the game as well. Mega Typhlosion This mega doesn't have a lot of versatility in it's optimal set, but it truly excels as a sun sweeper/wallbreaker, because under sun it does an absolutely INSANE amount of damage with eruption, and 125 speed to do it in isn't anything to scoff at either. Though maybe it isn't the objectively best mega, it gets above average coverage and a hell of a lot of damage. Here's a couple of calcs just to show you the raw power of this mon. 252+ SpA Mega Typhlosion Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Chansey in Sun: 301-355 (42.7 - 50.4%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO 252+ SpA Mega Typhlosion Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mega Milotic: 216-256 (54.8 - 64.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery Unfortunately, Dragonite does a number on it, and Mega-Swampert walls it to hell and back, and it struggles with bulky dragon types that aren't weak to focus blast aswell. But after getting a free kill on something it can absolutely spiral out of control with hubris if your opponent has limited answers to it. Winning the weather also makes this mon a lot easier to deal with, and livewire and stealth rocks hurt it really badly aswell. All in all, Mega Typhlosion is a decent sweeper/wallbreaker that thrives under sun, but has a lot of weaknesses and needs a lot of support to come online and clean up teams with Hubris. That being said, it's a volatile threat that can just ruin teams left unchecked, blowing up and uncontrollably erupting on your opponents pokemon, which makes it awesome in terms of flavour. Mega Meganium You are looking at the premier counter to the best mega in the game, Sceptile. Sceptile isn't the only threat this thing puts a stop to. Thanks to its tremendous typing it and ridiculous bulk it can put a stop to threats like Garchomp, Dragonite, Breloom, M-Crawdaunt, M-Cacturn, and Keldeo along with quite a few others. It also has a great utility with its ability Magic Bounce. In a metagame influenced greatly by hazards (ex. Spikes, Stealth Rock, Sticky Web) keeping them off the field is one of the most important tasks to a competitive battler, and Magic Bounce helps keep your side clean. This ability will also put a stop to annoying mons like Sableye from carrying out wth their shenanigans, as Magic Bounce also bounces back status and taunts. Unlike other magic bounces (ex. Espeon & Xatu) it has the perfect typing and bulk to make use of this ability. Unfortunately it has a subpar support movepool with only a few viable options (Aromatherapy, Leech Seed, and Dragon Tail). Overall this is a very good pokemon that can support teams tremendously with its bulky and ability to deny hazards. Mega Feraligatr Mega Feraligatr is a ferocious sweeper, especially when used under rain. To give you an idea of just how power this pokemon is: +2 252+ Atk Tough Claws Feraligatr Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro in Rain: 219-258 (55.5 - 65.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery It has the ability to 2HKO one of its best counter after one Swords Dance under the rain. It is almost impossible to revenge kill considering its Tough Claws boosted Aqua Jet which has priority over other moves. It can also function well as a dragon dance sweeper but it already gained a speed boost with the mega evolution so, in general, the Swords Dance set is better. Although M-Feraligtr is a beast, there are counters to it. Jellicent which is immune to water type attacks with its ability Water Absob and Superpower, and doesn't really mind taking an Ice Punch. It can respond by crippling it with a Will-O-Wisp, while only being afraid if the gator has crunch. Chesnaught can counter variants without Ice Punch. Vaporeon is also immune to the water type attacks and doesn't take much damage from any of its coverage moves either. Mega Bisharp Another extremely dangerous Mega Evolution, Mega Bisharp, is featured in this game. I don't think you need me to tell you how powerful this Mega Evolution is, but I will anyways. At first glance the stats of Mega Bisharp aren't too terrifying by Mega Evolution standards. In fact, with a Life Orb regular Bisharp does quite a bit more damage then its Mega Evolution. Mega Bisharp would much rather have a defensive boost over a speed boost since its main attacking move, Sucker Punch, has priority anyways. Another problem for Mega Bisharp is that Pokemon Zeta uses Black/White mechanics, meaning that Bisharp's best move Knock Off is weaker in terms of power and Steel-types resist Dark-type moves. With all this said, one would ask "Why use Mega Bisharp over Mega Blaziken, Mega Pinsir, or even regular Bisharp for a physical attacker?" The answer lies in the ability Moxie. Just come in and finish off a threat with Sucker Punch, earn yourself a Moxie boost, and you basically breeze past entire teams, gaining an attack boost after each successive kill. The best counter has to be Skarmory as it can take a Brick Break easily and it resists Bisharp's moves that receive same-type attack bonuses. Although certainly not the best new Mega Evolution, Bisharp does have a skill set that enables it to thrive in Pokémon battles. Mega Steelix Steelix is one of my personal favorite pokemon and boy am I glad it got a Mega Evolution in this game. thesuzerain gave Mega Steelix a real gem in the ability Foundry that Steelix really needed to be a useful Pokémon. With its Mega Evolution Steelix becomes an offensive threat, whereas before it was just a sitting duck with high defenses. It now has a same-type attack boosted Fire-type move in Stone Edge that becomes very powerful with the boost from Foundry, but the main reason to use Mega Steelix would be to abuse the ability to lay Fire-type Stealth Rocks. With this fiery entry hazard Pokémon like Forretress, Ferrothorn, Genesect, and Scizor all lose 50% of their health on the switch-in while Aegislash, Venusaur and many others lose 25%. With all that said, Mega Steelix is definitely not without its flaws. It really needed a Special Defense increase, but instead it actually decreased by 10. It also preferred to have a lower speed to bring its best Steel move Gyro Ball to its full potential. It is an easy kill for most special attackers and doesn't have the wall breaking ability to be a very big offensive threat. Bottom Line: Mega Steelix is a very viable Mega Pokémon with its great ability Foundry, but if you're not using it to set up Stealth Rocks then don't use it at all. Mega Cacturne In my opinion the most interesting Mega Evolution is Mega Cacturne. With great mixed attacking stats and Speed that is patched up nicely with Speed Boost, this thing becomes SCARY. It also gets great moves like Seed Bomb, Sucker Punch, Giga Drain, Drain Punch, etc. to abuse those amazing stats. It also receives Swords Dance AND Nasty Plot to boost those attacking stats to frightening levels. As far as stopping it goes, Mega Swampert walls it to hell and back. While certainly not on the level of some previously mentioned Mega Evolutions, Mega Cacturne is a neat Pokémon that is fun to use. Mega Golurk Mega Golurkis the definition of a wallbreaker as it receives an insane 100 point increase to its Attack Stat, making it a monstrous Physical attacker, notably from a STAB Earthquake, gains a modest 15 point increase to its Defense and Special Defense to make Golurk more durable, and Sheer Force powers up moves such as Thunder Punch and Ice Punch, which can cover many of Golurk's weaknesses. Golurk also recieves a much needed 40 point increase in speed, which makes Golurk a more formidable sweeper, unlike before. If running Shadow Punch, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, and Earthquake, it 2KOs almost every pokemon in the game and 3KOs all pokemon in the game. Here are some calcs to show its power: 252+ Atk Sheer Force Golurk Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 230-272 (54.7 - 64.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery 252+ Atk Golurk Shadow Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 222-264 (56.3 - 67%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery 252+ Atk Sheer Force Golurk Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 232+ Def Skarmory: 206-244 (61.6 - 73%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock It takes down the biggest defensive behemoths in existance. The only pokemon that I've found that can take 2 hits and live to tell the tale are physically defensive M-Swampert, Suicune, and Porygon2 holding eviolite. Although its power is ridiculous, it is very easy to revenge kill due to its mediocre speed stat. Mega Dugtrio Mega Dugtrio receives a whopping 100 point increase in its base Attack stat when it Mega Evolves with no other stat increases. However, with its frailty, it's still quite difficult to put that to good use. Mega Reuniclus Mega Reuniclus is expected to have a large effect on Z/O's metagame due to its extremely unique ability, Speed Swap. While Trick Room users generally have to waste a move slot in order to set up Trick Room itself, Mega Reuniclus is capable of doing this by merely coming into play. Because this has the ability to literally turn the entire speed tier system upside down, there is virtually no limit to how much effect this Mega Evolution will have on competitive play. Furthermore, Mega Reuniclus also has excellent stats of its own to boast about, meaning it will be able to hold its own while also supporting the rest of the team. To give you an idea of how powerful it is, Reuniclusite is banned from the Phoenix Iota. Mega Crawdaunt I'm going to be honest: In Pokémon Z/O Mega Crawdaunt really just doesn't stack up against the big boy Mega Evolutions. If you play versions X/Y competitively, then you should be aware that Crawdaunt is a BEAST in 6v6 play. It is able to abuse Adaptability with Aqua Jet, and perhaps the best move in the game; Knock Off. Unfortunately for our evil lobster, Z/O uses Generation V mechanics, so Knock Off is without its buff. However, thesuzerain has confirmed that Crawdaunt will be able to acquire Aqua Jet as well as the new priority move, Draco Jet, in the same update that its Mega Stone is released. This makes it much more viable then originally assumed. We will have to do some in-game testing to see how competitive it really is. Regular Crawdaunt with a Life Orb easily out-damages Mega Crawdaunt. All is not bad for Mega Crawdaunt though, as it did receive a useful boost in speed to make it an even more potent Dragon Dancer. Before Mega Evolution Crawdaunt still couldn't out-speed threats like Gengar and Jolteon with a +1 boost in Speed, but this problem is solved after its Mega Evolution occurs. Overall, there isn't much Mega Crawdaunt has going for it, and there are far superior choices for Mega Evolutions, but only Crawdaunt can boast the title of the tastiest Mega Pokémon. Mega Milotic Milotic's Mega Evolution was designed with the intent to add a different spin on a defensive Mega Pokémon. With Mega Milotic's ability to deal damage whenever it is hit by a special attack in addition to its access to recovery moves such as Recover and Refresh, it is able to effectively make switching in and taking hits more costly to the opponent. Its base stats were higher originally, but because Mega Milotic proved to be quite powerful both offensively and defensively, it was given a lower stat increase upon Mega Evolving. Thesuzerain blessed this pokemon with amazing defensive typing as well with 7 resistances, 1 immunitiy, and only 3 weaknesses making it a great stop to common threats like Scizor, Volcarona, M-Lucario, Crawdaunt, Kingdra, and Hydriegon among others. All these factors make it one of the best walls in the game. Mega Swampert With the ability Sap Sipper, Swampert easily becomes one of the best Mega Evolutions in the game as it is the only Mega Pokémon in the game with no weaknesses at all, while also converting its one former weakness into an advantage. Swampert has additionally received an addition of 50 to both of its defenses. Now sporting Arceus-esque bulk it becomes an unbreakable wall with no weaknesses. It works well on rain teams since it is immune to the two types that water is weak to. Mega Sceptile Sceptile can learn Leaf Storm, Draco Meteor, and Superpower. Probably the best Mega Evolution in existence, the best ways to beat it would be with Ice Shard and/or Scarf users. You don't see much of that in-game so this destroys entire teams easily. Between the three moves it can absolutely demolish most Pokémon barring Aegislash, but even in Shield Forme Aegislash won't want to take +2, +4, or +6 Special Attack boosted Draco Meteors. Ferrothorn, Mega Steelix and Heatran are probably the next best counters, but I use the term counter very loosely as they won't like taking boosted Superpowers or Draco Meteors. However, Ferrothorn can use Thunder Wave to cripple or dent it with Gyro Ball, and Steelix and Heatran can knock it out with their Fire-type moves, including Stone Edge (Foundry) and Fire Blast. Mega Reuniclus is also a great counter because of its ability Speed Swap, which makes its incredible speed near useless for at least 5 turns. Suzerain reduced Mega Sceptile's stats in 1.4.0, reducing SPA from 170 to 130, and SPE from 135 to 130. Category:Pokemon